Defining Creative Ideas: Toward a More Nuanced Approach

Organizational creativity research has focused extensively on distinguishing creativity from routine, non-creative work. In this conceptual article, we examine the less considered issue of variation in the type of creative ideas. Starting from the premise that creativity occurs along a continuum tha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Group & organization management 2015-04, Vol.40 (2), p.238-265
Main Authors: Litchfield, Robert C., Gilson, Lucy L., Gilson, Paul W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conceptualization
Creativity
Organization theory
Organizational behavior
Studies
Value
Variance
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:Organizational creativity research has focused extensively on distinguishing creativity from routine, non-creative work. In this conceptual article, we examine the less considered issue of variation in the type of creative ideas. Starting from the premise that creativity occurs along a continuum that can range from incremental to radical, we propose that unpacking variation in the mix of novelty and two common conceptions of usefulness—feasibility and value—results in seven meaningfully different types of creativity. We group these types of creativity into four creative continua scaled according to novelty to provide an organizing framework for future research.
ISSN:1059-6011
1552-3993
DOI:10.1177/1059601115574945